Ascension is Enthronement (Ephesians 1:15-23)

And a reading from the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel of Luke, starting at the forty-fourth verse, Luke twenty-four, forty-four to fifty-three.

Then Jesus said to the disciples, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses to these things.

And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.

But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them.

While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, blessing God.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

And friends, let's confess our faith in the words of the Apostles' Creed.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again.

He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Amen.

Amen.

And friends, as we gather our prayers together in the colic for the day, let's take a moment and just meditate and uh just invite the Lord's presence into our hearts.

Oh God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son, Jesus Christ, with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven.

Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting.

Amen.

Amen.

And so, Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be always acceptable and pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

Amen.

Amen.

So as we open up the scriptures today, I want to uh encourage you to uh put um your view on on speaker view, um, but uh but that's that's up to you.

So I've I've been thinking, today's the ascension.

Today we celebrate the ascension, it's ascension Sunday.

And I've been thinking a lot about the inception, uh the inception, the ascension.

Um Inception's a great movie for those who haven't seen it, but we're talking about the ascension.

I've been thinking about um uh an influential figure, an influential figure who came to Earth, who lived among us, who died, who rose again, and who, at the end of his story, returned to where he came from, leaving a band of inspired friends behind him.

And of course, you all know who I'm talking about.

I'm talking about E.T.

the extraterrestrial, right?

For those who've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about.

If you haven't, it's a classic movie about a uh stranded, uh benevolent extraterrestrial who makes friends and uh embarks on a quest really to contact his home planet, get picked up, and go back to where he came from.

Now, why am I talking about E.T., the extraterrestrial?

I guess it's a confession.

I have to confess that for a long time, this is essentially what I thought about the ascension.

The ascension of E.T.

makes sense.

It completes his story.

He's been stranded on earth, now he's coming, he's going back to where he came from.

That makes sense.

That's a logical conclusion.

And so when I think about the ascension of Christ, there's a part of me that goes, well, that makes sense.

He came from the Father, he came from heaven.

Now he's going back to where he came from, and I guess that makes for a nice end to that movie.

And the Gospel of Luke, of course, concludes with this scene of the ascension, but Luke begins to sequel the book of Acts with this very same scene, seen from a different camera angle, right?

There's a parallel between Luke 24 and Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

We read that Jesus led the disciples out as far as Bethany, he lifted up his hands, he blessed them, and while he blessed them, he parted from them, he was carried up into heaven.

And so there's part of me that reads that, and I go, well, that that that's a nice little, that's a nice conclusion to the movie, I guess.

Just like E.T.

returned home.

Now Jesus is doing the same.

But the truth is, if we s settle there, if that's where we stop with the significance of the ascension, then we've missed out on its most important characteristics.

We've missed out on its true significance.

This is not the end of the story, is it?

The Book of Acts begins with this scene because it's precisely the beginning, a new beginning to the story.

Jesus is renewing his people and renewing God's mission in the world.

This is not the end of the story.

This is not Jesus beaming back up to the Father and leaving us all behind him.

And Paul wants us to understand just what's so significant about the ascension.

He wants this Ephesian church he's writing to to understand that the ascension means Jesus sits on the throne.

The ascension is Jesus' enthronement.

Jesus is the ruler of all creation, and Jesus is the head of the church.

And in Paul's prayer in the beginning chapter of Ephesians, he wants this church to understand just what's so significant about Jesus' ascension.

There's so much more going on here than Jesus returning home.

Jesus sits on the throne, and that is good news for us today, saints.

So let's not miss the significance of Jesus' ascension.

Let's dive in to our Ephesians reading this morning.

Before we do, just a little bit of background here, Paul is, in Acts chapter 19, we read that Paul has spent two years of pretty successful ministry of missionary work in this relatively cosmopolitan, very pagan, very prosperous city of Ephesus.

Acts 19 · chapter mention

It's well known for its temple to Artemis.

And now years later, he's writing to this church from a prison in Rome.

And here's the reason he's writing.

He wants this church to understand God's purpose in Christ.

God's purpose in Christ is to unite all things in Christ, Paul writes.

All things in heaven and all things on earth.

All things find unity in Christ, who's at the center of it all.

That's chapter 1, verse 10.

And so the first three chapters of this letter, uh, Paul is exploring God's story, what God has done to redeem all things in Christ, what God has done to unite and draw all things to himself in Christ.

And then chapters four to six explore the implications of God's story on our story.

How does our story live into God's story?

How do we participate in that saving, redeeming work that God has accomplished in Christ?

And it's a matter, Paul would say, of putting off the old and putting on the new.

God is uniting and redeeming and renewing all things in Christ, and now we live into that reality that He's inaugurated.

And so here we find ourselves in chapter one.

Paul has begun his letter by giving thanks for what God has done, what he's accomplished in Christ.

He has chosen, predestined, adopted, forgiven, sealed, a new multi-ethnic family of Jews and Gentiles alike in his Son.

He has united these two very estranged people groups into one church.

And he has gifted them with a glorious, eternal inheritance.

And now, in our reading today, Paul offers a prayer for this very same church.

He prays, verse 18, that you, that is the plural you, y'all, um, sorry, I lived in Texas, that y'all might know the hope to which he has called you.

What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints?

What his is a measurable greatness of his power towards us who believe.

So hope, inheritance, and power.

Paul wants this Ephesian church to understand what the hope, inheritance, and power of God means for them.

And friends, there is so much we we could explore there, isn't there?

Hope, inheritance, and power.

The truth is, today we're just going to peek behind door number three, and we're going to look at what does it mean to understand God's power for us.

That's what that's partly what Paul wants this church to understand.

Our God is a powerful God, friends, isn't he?

And we know that since chapter 1, verse 1, of the very first page of the Bible, God who creates the universe.

His power is known in creation.

He has spoken all things into being.

So the prophet Isaiah reflects on creation and he asks this question.

He asks, Who created all the heavens?

Chapter 40.

He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name, because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Creation is what it is, because our God is a powerful God.

God's power is known in creation.

God's power for his people is also known in their deliverance.

Reflecting on the exodus of God's people, their salvation from bondage and slavery in Egypt to new freedom in the promised land, the psalmist in Psalm 136 reflects, he says, with a mighty hand, with by God's glorious power, by his mighty hand and an outstretched arm, God has rescued us from our foes, for his steadfast love endures forever.

God's power is known in creation.

God's power is known in our deliverance.

And this is the kind of power Paul wants the Ephesian church to understand for themselves.

He wants this church to understand the immeasurable greatness of God's power towards us that He worked in Christ.

This very same Christ we've been united into by faith.

If we want to know God's power, if we want to know this powerful God, the same power of creation and salvation, we have to look to Christ, is what Paul says in verse 20.

And we see God's power displayed in two ways in Christ.

We see his power displayed in the resurrection.

God raised him, that is Jesus Christ, from the dead.

This is the Easter power that we celebrated almost 40 days ago, right?

This is a power that raises life from death, that speaks life out of death.

And that for Paul's audience would have been the ultimate demonstration of power.

No one can do that.

Only God can do that.

We also see God's power demonstrated in our ascension hope.

And this is what Paul zooms in on, and so we're going to zoom on it today as well.

Verse 20, Paul writes this: God seated Christ at his right hand in the heavenly places.

He is turned defeat into victory, and now Christ sits at his rightful place in the seat of highest authority in the universe at God's right hand.

So Paul is unpacking this for us.

He wants us to understand that the ascension is Jesus' enthronement.

He sits on the throne of the universe.

And because Jesus sits on the throne of the universe, he is the ruler of all creation.

Let's pick it up, Ephesians 1, verse 21.

Ephesians 1:21

Jesus sits at the Father's right hand, verse 21, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but in also in the one to come.

And he has put all things, Paul says, under his feet.

Paul is Paul is referencing a psalm that his Jewish audience would have been quite familiar with, Psalm 110, where uh Psalm 110, verse 1 reads this.

Psalms 110:1

It says, The Lord says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

The Lord says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until all things are subjected under your feet, until you reign and rule over all things.

So the language is quite unmistakable here.

This psalm is a coronation psalm, it's a royal psalm, but it points beyond any merely human king, it points towards a future Messiah king, a future divine king who will rule and reign over all things and fulfill God's promises to his preeminent king, David.

This Messiah king is going to be the king par excellence.

And one commentator writes this on Psalm 110 When the people of God would sing this psalm in faith, because remember the Psalms are songs.

God's people gather together and recite the psalms just like we recited Psalm 47 together.

God's people gathered together to sing these psalms.

When the people of God would sing this in faith, they would celebrate God's promises to David.

They would yearn for the day in which the Gentiles would receive the light, the coming accomplishment of the Messiah, and seek to be faithful to their calling until that great day.

God's people would celebrate God's power.

They would celebrate this coming enthronement of the Messiah King.

And now Paul wants the Ephesian church to understand that this has happened.

This is a present reality.

This is where we live.

Jesus sits on the everlasting throne of all creation, of the whole universe.

He is the one to whom this psalm points.

And there is no political, temporal, earthly, or even spiritual power now or forever that could ever compete with him.

He sits on the throne of the universe.

And for us, for his disciples, who are united to him, who trust in his name, we can rest assured in the knowledge that he is in control.

He sits on the throne.

There's nothing that surprises him.

There's nothing Jesus, there's nothing that takes Jesus off guard.

He sits, he reigns and rules as sovereign over all.

And the truth is, I say that, and the first thought that comes to my mind, probably comes to your mind, is okay, I know that's true from Scripture, but why does it feel like the world is so out of control?

Why does it feel like my world is so out of control?

Well, the truth is, this is an already and not yet reality.

An already not yet reality.

Paul understands that this is true.

God has inaugurated his reign and rule in Christ by his resurrection and ascension, and yet we wait for that day when his reign and rule will be made complete, will be full, will be fulfilled, that he will reign on earth just as he reigns in heaven, and all things will be subjected under his feet.

We wait for that day where he will reveal his kingdom in glory on earth as it is in heaven.

And in the meantime, we skirmish and we battle with evil and we battle with chaos, knowing that the war has been won, knowing for sure that Jesus has claimed the victory, period, and there is nothing that will overwhelm or overthrow him.

He sits on the throne.

And that's why Paul concludes his letter in chapter six by writing, writing to this church, to take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, that is presently, that you might stand firm.

So, friends, we can stand firm, we can rest assured in the knowledge that Jesus sits on the throne, that all evil, that all chaos, that all tragedy will be answered on that day when he comes in glory to sit on the throne here on earth as it is in heaven, that heaven and earth will be reunited once again in the new creation.

We wait for that day.

We look forward to that day.

Jesus is the ruler of all creation.

Paul also wants us to catch that Jesus' enthronement means that Jesus is the head of the church.

Let's pick it up in verse 22.

We read that God put all things under Christ's feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Jesus reigns over everything, and that includes the church.

But Paul is almost saying that God is so delighted that Jesus doesn't just reign from above in the church, he gives himself to the church.

He fills the church with his very personal presence by his Holy Spirit.

He gives himself as a gift to his chosen people, the church.

So let's unpack that a little bit.

Back to Psalm 110, verse 4, which Paul is referencing here.

Psalms 110:4

Paul, or pardon me, Psalm 110, verse 4 reads like this: The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you, that is the Messiah King, the future coming divine Messiah chosen king, are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek, which is to say an eternal priesthood of God's own choosing.

Psalms 110:4

So what is a priest supposed to do?

A priest intercedes.

A priest comes to God on behalf of God's people, and a priest goes to God's people on behalf of God.

A priest blesses, a priest pronounces the forgiveness of sins.

This Messiah King also serves as a priest who bears the people of God to God and bears God to his people.

This Messiah King is a mediator between God and human beings.

This is a priest who bears his people before the Father.

And Hebrews chapter 4 recognizes that this priest Messiah King is Jesus.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

So what does that mean for us?

What does it mean that Jesus sits on the throne as our great high priest?

It means that Jesus is praying for us.

Which for me is hard to wrap my mind around because truthfully, when I come to the Lord in prayer, so often my prayers feel so inadequate.

I struggle to find words.

I struggle to, I struggle to be coherent some mornings.

I struggle to even just enter into his presence, or even sometimes to feel worthy to be in his presence.

But if I pause and I reflect on this truth that Paul wants me to understand, that he wants the Ephesian church to understand, I can recognize the fact that Jesus is already praying for me.

Before I start praying, Jesus is lifting me up to the Father.

Before you start praying, Jesus is already lifting you up.

And before we start gathering, he is lifting new song up to the Father as He intercedes for us, as He blesses us, as He forgives our sins as we repent.

That's what Jesus is doing.

He sits on the throne and he lifts us up to the Father.

That's our great high priest.

He is the head of the body, which is the church.

It makes me think about what kind of relationship the head, my head has to my body.

It's the control center, isn't it?

I can't last long without my head.

It's essential to life, it's a vital connection.

And it's a lot like Jesus talks about when he talks about the vine and the branches.

One cannot do without the other.

And so Paul would have us grow into this head, as members of his body grow into the fullness of spiritual maturity in him.

That's what Paul writes in chapter 4.

Into the fullness of him who fills all of us, verse 23.

When Paul writes that, when he writes that his body is the fullness of him who fills all and in all, Paul's not saying that Jesus is somehow inadequate or incomplete.

Instead, he's saying that Jesus is so infinite as our Messiah King, as God the Son, he is so infinite that he reigns on the throne in heaven and he pours himself out onto the church on earth, into our very hearts.

That we can be the very presence of God in the world that we are placed in.

That's who we're created and called to be.

We are created and called to be images of God in his world who display his power and his glory and his love to all creation.

Now that starts to lead us to the problem, to the problem of Scripture, because on our own, we are defeated by sin and death.

And on our own, without Christ, we are lost in a kingdom of darkness.

And Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 2 that we are dead in our trespasses and sin.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

We are created to image God, to be his presence into the world, to create and bless and multiply creation and to enjoy him forever.

But on our own, we are lost.

We are dead.

There is nothing we can do to enter into his glorious kingdom.

And by his cross, Jesus is lifted up.

Jesus who comes to earth, who dwells with us, who takes on our humanity, is crowned with thorns, is lifted up, draws all darkness, sin, and death to himself, and puts its power to death.

So that by his resurrection and ascension, Jesus can be victorious over death.

He can turn humiliation into victory.

He can turn defeat into exaltation.

And now the Redeemer of all creation rightly reigns and rules as the King of the whole universe.

He rightly sits at the Father's right hand above all things.

And now because our Lord sits at the Father's right hand, because he has ascended into heaven, we can ascend into heaven with him by his Holy Spirit.

As his body, we can be filled with his presence and be the fullness of him in creation.

We can love with Christ's love.

We can serve others as we've been served by Christ.

Friends, we can proclaim the hope that's been proclaimed to us precisely because Christ fills us and fills all things.

We can be raised up and seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

That's what Paul writes in chapter 2, verse 6.

His resurrection, his ascension, his power becomes our resurrection, becomes our ascension, becomes our power at work in us by his grace.

And so we can rest in the confidence that Christ is seated on the throne, that he is the head of the church, which is his body, that he fills us, that he reigns and rules over all things and calls us to proclaim that hope to a creation lost in darkness.

And we can rest assured that he's praying for us.

He does not leave us alone in this.

He does not leave us stranded or as orphans, but he is bearing us before the Father, just as he is filling us with his very self by his Holy Spirit.

And we stand firm as we wait with confidence for the coming of his glorious kingdom.

And now we can put into practice that growing into his headship.

We can recognize our place within the body, our own need to depend upon one another.

We need to gather as a body, friends.

And even in this time, as we gather together over Zoom, we're gathering as his body to lift him up, to magnify his name.

And so, friends, we can we can be his presence in the world.

We can put off the old, the things that belong to sin, the deceits and corruptions of the world, and we can be filled with newness of life by his spirit.

So, friends, we see a whole lot more going on than the final scene of E.T., right?

We see a whole lot more going on than Jesus getting beamed back up to where he came from.

Jesus, in his ascension, sits on the throne.

He is the ruler above all things.

He is the head of the church.

This gives us confidence.

This gives us assurance.

This calls us to grow into him, into the fullness of who he is, into the fullness of his joy, into the fullness of his power.

And so we can say with Paul, Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 3, we can say, glory to God, whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

Glory to him from generation to generation in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever.

Amen.

Lord Jesus, you sit on the throne.

You have ascended into heaven, and you rule and reign over all things.

You are the head of the church, and you bear us your church to our Heavenly Father.

Thank you, Lord, for this hope.

Lord, fill us today.

Send us out in mission that we would proclaim this hope to all creation, to all those you call to yourself.

All this we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.